A Clearer Vision

 . . . the fruit of the Spirit is
love
joy
peace
patience
kindness
goodness
faithfulness
gentleness
and self-control.
There is no law (Jewish Law) against such things.

. . .

Be sure that you not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

Therefore, when you do your charitable deeds, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do your charitable deeds, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deeds may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

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. . . .

Not that I have already attained or have already been perfected, but I follow after it so that I may lay hold of that for which I was seized by Christ Jesus. 

I do not count myself to have attained, but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 

I press toward the goal to the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

living water

I am made in the image of God, not your image of God.

Yes, my church is kind of a Big Deal.

But it gets better and better as people of faith embody what it means to be Christlike in all of our ways. And to find ways in which we are always constantly re-inventing ourselves to be a people of Jesus.

And It is kind of a Big Deal because this congregation has staked its mark on wanting to find the way of Jesus. Not to find the way of the law nor to find the way of a system of dogmas, but to find the way of Jesus, and to model our lives as closely on the Jesus that we find in the scriptures, as close as possible, knowing that that is the sacred call of the church of Jesus Christ

So often we get hung up on the rules and regulations, on the dogmas of christianity, that we fail to understand the simple values of Jesus.

And today we come to affirm the value of Jesus who was compassionate and who calls people on the way to a place of compasion themselves.

In our New Testament reading this morning we read of the parable, that Jesus would enter into and speak into truth to the one who was expert in the law.

Now in order for us to understand the context of this story we need to understand the context of first century Jerusalem, to understand the rituals and regulations and, perhaps, I would dare to say the fundamental reason why God indeed sent Jesus into the world in the first place.

I think the world was very similar to our world, a world where people had got so hung up on rules and regulations, a world that had become so divided, between them and us, a world that had got so divided about who was believing and who was worthy of God's grace.

And I could just imagine that God sat up in God's heaven wherever that is, saying, "You know, you silly people, you know folks there is something you are missing in this story, and I don't know how else or how better to tell you than to send a living example of what it truly means to be Christlike, to truly embody God in your life."

And so here we find Jesus, an itinerant preacher, revolutionary, someone who was not unwilling to stand against the religious dogmas of this world and to stand in opposition to resist the ways even of the religion of his day.

That is a cool thing our Senior Pastor shared.

PROGRAM LISTINGS & PROGRAM SCHEDULES

An Extraordinary Adventure

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There is NOTHING of you (or me) greater that honors God, builds supportive community, creates lasting positive legacies, and remains continuously satisfying, than you (or me) being the highest truest expression of yourself (or myself) fulfilling the purpose(s) for which you are (or I am) convinced we are accordingly designed for, believe we are called to, or we are exploring in a process of discovery. Nothing! That is exactly what Jesus was: the highest truest expression of himself fulfilling the purpose for which he came. Who would you rather be?

Welcome to phenomenal life-thriving strategies delivered from the lean side of the mountain and embraced by many on this wondrous journey of life and learning - the continuation of our Extraordinary Adventure series.

"How do we cultivate young people who have the idealism, and the ambition, and the drive, and the passion to start their own journey to bring about meaningful and positive social change?"

You are altogether beautiful, my love;
    there is no flaw in you.

King Solomon

What problem are you working on solving?
Recomend: at your deepest level answer the question, "Why?"

"I am the door. If anyone enters through Me, that one will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.   The thief does not come, except to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." Jesus, Son of Man, Prince of Glory, Redeemer.

Who made the mountains? Who made the trees? Who made the rivers flow to the sea? Who sends the rain when the earth is dry? Who made the flowers to bloom in the spring? Who made the song for the robins to sing? Who hung the moon in the starry sky? Yes, all that and way much more! Our mind. Our body. Our spirit. Our soul.

What is your value-add?

Phenomenal Life Strategies

Life Strategy # 6: "Get a coach, a mentor, a confidant!"

Phenomenal life-affirming, life-thriving, life-uplifting strategies are being delivered by Our Lord Jesus on the lean side of the mountain. It's a new life.

Action Plan: Add Value. "Get yourself a coach, a mentor, a confidant. All of which require authenticity, integrity, confidentiality, and trust. Without those essentials . . . over and out! Quickly. Don't sweat it." Jesus gets personal with me again, whispering encouragement for me to take full responsibility for who I am where I'm at, then look around: a decision is at hand - a very important decision. (What about you?) Where are you hanging out - beyond the facade?

Rejoice! Be Glad!
You are not a lone.
Whose confidant are you?

Welcome to my 'inter-personal' share!

"In the rough and tumble confusions of this life sometimes we conflate humankind created in the image of God with a God created in the image of mankind. That is how some of us end up with a God who is an angry old grey-haired white man waiting with every level of red hot comeupance for all those not fully paid-up on their rent. Watch out!" Braithwait, The Battle (SBL Series)

Stories are crucial to our survival as a specie. Every culture has them. We live and die at the point of them. We value them.

You have a story.

I have my story too. A total unicorn!

They have their stories also. Isn't theirs a doozie? No unicorns?

Security is a central theme in the stories shared about our transformation up through to this very moment of our shining. Irony of ironies, we rage battles for ownership of 'the story' - a thing that is totally non-existent, except to those embatlled for the emblem of it. To them it is real. I think. I hope it is. I hope it is as real as our untouched sky is blue. Lots have died for its symbolled 'glory.' Rivers of blood reek ravaged shores.

We are our stories.

Sacred stories passed down to us, being passed on through us, are replete with security stories - eternal security, national security, physical security, emotional security, intellectual security, financial security - security, security, security. Story after story after story. They are not all one thing! And stories about those who want to make them all one thing are in the package too. We are inundated with such stories.

Why?

Of course, for many in our 'Jesus Camp' (spiritual or religious) the question of eternal security or spiritual security is quite settled. But not for everyone. I'll take the position here that the matter is settled. Punto. Fin!

Okay, you don't have to agree. That is your story. Go, tell it!

And if your story is that the settling of eternal security settles all other matters of security, then go tell that too. This is definitely not that story. And whether security - regardless - is a total illusion, well, that would be quite a fascinating exploration or revelation or ideation, wouldn't you think? We haven't reached that chapter here just yet.

The beacon I see pulsing from this side of the mountain in this moment is emotional security. It is real!

M-hm!

You see it too?

What are you discovering?

M-hm! Me too! Notice, as well, three things clashing - kind of banging into each other (left, right and center), like the flashes of a Liberachi wardrobe: the fact that we own our emotions (lock, stock and barrel); the reality of empathy - it is crucial to communal survival; and the brutality of so many inevitable interconnections chain-ganged in the interests of power and greed.

Oh, what a web we weave! But let's consider the beautiful part. No? Yes, let's! Because the ugly part smells to high hell. I am seated in the garden of flowers. M-hm! Take shower on your way over. Have a seat next to me.

"We sure need each other." Check out Riding Moby Dick. Especially if you owe the forementioned landlord. He is a beast.

I love the stories the Storyteller tells me. I listen to them sagain and again and again, because my eyes light up, because I love hearing them, because they shine light on my story, because I love my story too.

In the stories I have heard so far from the Storyteller who tells me stories, whoever trades emotional security for physical security is trapped, whoever trades emotional security for financial security is trapped, whoever trades emotional security for intellectual security is trapped, whoever trades emotional security for national security is trapped, whoever trades emotional security for eternal security is being lied to big time and robbed with eyes wide open, and none of these are expressing their highest truest selves or ejoying the fullest realization of who and what they are, and the whole lof ot us are that much poorer for the wastage. Now that's a problem.

We are our stories. What's yours? What problem are you solving?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference. _ Robert Frost

Take time (if need be) to discover, hone, and use your gifts. You'll find useful steps (discovery process, action plans) in Riding Moby Dick. Just Click!

Are you solving any problem?
Add Value

HOO-RAH!

"I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, nor shall anyone snatch them from My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them from My Father’s hand. My Father and I are one." All things are possible. Start with what is just outside your comfort zone. Believe. Act upon it. Step outside and breathe.

WORD TO THE WISE: Find a coach, a mentor, a confidant.

If someone is this very second saying, "God is my coach, God is my mentor, God is my confidant," take a look at my face, look at my eyes, look at my lips, "Bless your heart." Better yet, let us look at a mirror together and mouth these words, my precious friend, with the firm hope these words will sink into our hearts before making a sound of any worth through our ecosystem, "Let God be God!"

Now go and get a coach, a mentor, a confidant. It's just plain smart!

So, what if you and-or I were privileged or honored to be someone's confidant - wink-wink - wouldn't we want to be the kind of confidant we would think we richly deserve for ourselves. Hmmm? Let me think about this a little more. Integrity. Confidentiality. Trust. Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Hmm? My Jesus!

Perhaps, your experience is different, but haven't you found what I have found: it is hardly likely we'll be treated any better over the long run by those who matter than the ways we knowingly treat others in those moments when to them we matter. Me thinks we got some solid advice from this the lean side of the mountain about how all that goes down. Methinks we did. It's a secret! It's a secret, my truth seeker friends; it's a secret! A holy secret.

BTW, I overheard this little gem recently, which I have taken a liking to: "Respect yourself and your position enough to not resemble what you oppose."

It came compliments of a classic story and commentary. Has anyone else heard that story? But it is so tempting to lash back out. Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

"Knowledge that takes you not beyond yourself is far worse than ignorance." Elif Shafak.

Something To Consider

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You are

What POWER!